I've been looking at various TV's recently. My local dealer whom I have a $600 credit w/will sell me a Sony TV below Best Buys price. I get special pricing because I've been a steady customer for 18 years. My choice is the Sony55W950B or the 49" 4K model which will be a few hundred dollars more. Bigger picture for less or more advanced technology and better picture?? for more money. I sit 8.5 ft away from the TV. Currently I have a 42" Pioneer Elite (non-Kuro) 720p TV. Still works very well w/zero issues. Any feedback would be appreciated. I am a big movie fan. So a good accurate picture is important.

I've been looking at various TV's recently. My local dealer whom I have a $600 credit w/will sell me a Sony TV below Best Buys price. I get special pricing because I've been a steady customer for 18 years. My choice is the Sony55W950B or the 49" 4K model which will be a few hundred dollars more. Bigger picture for less or more advanced technology and better picture?? for more money. I sit 8.5 ft away from the TV. Currently I have a 42" Pioneer Elite (non-Kuro) 720p TV. Still works very well w/zero issues. Any feedback would be appreciated. I am a big movie fan. So a good accurate picture is important.

At 8.5 feet away on a TV that size you will not be able to tell the difference between 4K and 1080. I would say go for the 950B but others may differ in opinion.

So we have some people with some positive reviews of the W950B and that's great. As long as you guys are happy with it that's all that matters in the end. I had a chance to get one in May but the professional reviews were not good and the wedge design was a complete turn off for me. But hey to each as own as they say. Enjoy!

As I read this thread, I was afraid to leave a post, as I don't think I'm even on the same playing field as the posters here.
I got a KDL-55W950B delivered on Friday.
The Triluminos display is simply gorgeous compared to my old 46" XBR2 and most visitors thought it looked great.
The W950B may have its weaknesses, but for someone that's only been watching "cable" damn it looks good.
As always YMMV.

Here are a couple shots snapped in a totally dark room, it was hard to get a totally black screen as this TV shuts all the LEDs off when no info is being displayed. Let me know if there is anything else you all want pictures of.

Here are a couple shots snapped in a totally dark room, it was hard to get a totally black screen as this TV shuts all the LEDs off when no info is being displayed. Let me know if there is anything else you all want pictures of.

Seems like dimming technology helps this set. Those scenes would have been much worse in 4K IPS x850b TV.

I actually keep the dimming disabled on the TV. Turning the dimming off seems to help with the uniformity issues this set has. Albeit my set doesnt seem to have uniformity issues with or without the dimming.

Blacks were clearly worse the 900? Please tell me your not talking about the W900A? Because if you are then you are so wrong about that and this is coming from a guy who owns the 55W900A. The blacks of the W9 are clearly superior to the W950B and to say differently is clearly laughable. For anyone who is buying the W950 you better have the tv in a room with lots of lights because in a dark room its black levels are down right horrible. My fathers Insignia BB tv has better black levels then the W950B! Color wise the 950 is good and so is the sound but Black levels and Contrast? Like I said Horrible.

I don't know what you're talking about. The guy's conclusion is the same as yours.

His conclusion is the same as mine? He said the blacks are clearly worse then the W900A so by reading his post I am assuming he is saying the black levels of the W9 are not good and that is false. The black levels of the W9 bury those of the W950B PureHazard.

He says the W950b has worse black levels than the W900a,but even if he is talking about the X900b he is still correct W950B offers decent black levels for an IPS,but worse than last years superior VA panel W900a.

He says the W950b has worse black levels than the W900a,but even if he is talking about the X900b he is still correct W950B offers decent black levels for an IPS,but worse than last years superior VA panel W900a.

Just to clear some things up. I aint making no comparisons to the 4K X900b. Second the W950B, while having decent black level's, don't even come close to the 2013 W900A. Why? Because the W950B uses LG's IPS panel which is good for viewing angles but not so good for Black levels. Also the W950B does not use the Quantum Dot tech for Triluminous like the W9 did. Why Sony dropped it is beyond me but they did. But the W950B is a good tv and it has decent black levels its just not on the same level as the W900A which it supposedly replaced.

I'm a big gamer, the reason why I'm going with Sony is the industry leading low display lag inherent in the 850/950 models.

Currently at BestBuy, there is ofcourse the 65" 950b that's taking a thrashing on this thread.
Then there's the KDL60W840B. Would that be a step down from the 950b?
Cnet says it has "very good picture quality with deep black levels" despite it not having the trilluminous display.

"The W850B delivered a satisfyingly deep shade of black, competing well against the best TVs in our lineup and handily outdoing the less-expensive Sharp, Vizio, and Sony R520A. During the darkest sequences of "Gravity," for example Chapter 2 (16:25) when Ryan Stone is tumbling through deep space, the letterbox bars and black of the void were darker than that of any TV in our lineup, with the exception of the Sony W900A and Samsung F8000--and it was very close to those two."

**edit
Woops, looks like the 60w840 has a higher input lag....so it's either the 950 or hunting down an older model....ugh.

I'm a big gamer, the reason why I'm going with Sony is the industry leading low display lag inherent in the 850/950 models.

Currently at BestBuy, there is ofcourse the 65" 950b that's taking a thrashing on this thread.
Then there's the KDL60W840B. Would that be a step down from the 950b?
Cnet says it has "very good picture quality with deep black levels" despite it not having the trilluminous display.

"The W850B delivered a satisfyingly deep shade of black, competing well against the best TVs in our lineup and handily outdoing the less-expensive Sharp, Vizio, and Sony R520A. During the darkest sequences of "Gravity," for example Chapter 2 (16:25) when Ryan Stone is tumbling through deep space, the letterbox bars and black of the void were darker than that of any TV in our lineup, with the exception of the Sony W900A and Samsung F8000--and it was very close to those two."

**edit
Woops, looks like the 60w840 has a higher input lag....so it's either the 950 or hunting down an older model....ugh.

Go see the tv's in person, reviews aren't always accurate. If I would have listened to the reviews I wouldn't have this amazing w950b. I posted pictures in a prior post in this thread check those out if you want to see what mine looks like. You can read reviews until you are blue in the face but in the end it boils down to what you like. I have found the w950b is better, wait, far better than any review I have read on it.

I'm a big gamer, the reason why I'm going with Sony is the industry leading low display lag inherent in the 850/950 models.

Currently at BestBuy, there is ofcourse the 65" 950b that's taking a thrashing on this thread.
Then there's the KDL60W840B. Would that be a step down from the 950b?
Cnet says it has "very good picture quality with deep black levels" despite it not having the trilluminous display.

"The W850B delivered a satisfyingly deep shade of black, competing well against the best TVs in our lineup and handily outdoing the less-expensive Sharp, Vizio, and Sony R520A. During the darkest sequences of "Gravity," for example Chapter 2 (16:25) when Ryan Stone is tumbling through deep space, the letterbox bars and black of the void were darker than that of any TV in our lineup, with the exception of the Sony W900A and Samsung F8000--and it was very close to those two."

**edit
Woops, looks like the 60w840 has a higher input lag....so it's either the 950 or hunting down an older model....ugh.

The w840/850 has an input lag of 24ms vs the w950 at 17ms. Both of these figures are much lower than anything else out there, and 7ms at this point might be reaching the point of diminishing returns. The 65w950 and the 60w850 are both great tvs from what I've seen. I haven't had the chance to get them both home to comparing in an in home environment, but from what I've noticed, the w950 has slightly better color, and the w850 has slightly better blacks. I'm going to make the decision based on what I end up having room for in my new place. If I can swing the 65" I'm going for it, otherwise I think I'll be just as happy with the 60".

Here are a couple shots snapped in a totally dark room, it was hard to get a totally black screen as this TV shuts all the LEDs off when no info is being displayed. Let me know if there is anything else you all want pictures of.

The pics look great! Would you say the actual black levels are better in person? I am seriously considering on of these since the price is right and the size would be perfect for my bedroom/game room.

I would say the black levels are really good anywhere dead center to 45-75 degrees off center. Beyond that you will see the weakness of the IPS panel and the blacks get lighter on the side furthest from you. I really do not like local dimming on any tv I have ever tried it on and this one is no different. I've turned local dimming off and lowered my backlighting to 2 or 3 and the performance is great.

I would say the black levels are really good anywhere dead center to 45-75 degrees off center. Beyond that you will see the weakness of the IPS panel and the blacks get lighter on the side furthest from you. I really do not like local dimming on any tv I have ever tried it on and this one is no different. I've turned local dimming off and lowered my backlighting to 2 or 3 and the performance is great.

Since the panel is an LG IPS they come with LED array supplied by LG. In the case of the W950B it uses an edge array and reports claim that is along the bottom edge of the display. I had an LA7400 for a minute and it was a bottom edge dimmer,so anytime it was activated you saw dancing columns of light. A few reviews I have found for the UK W955b have used "advance contrast enhancer" and "black corrector" to alleviate these issues.

Since the panel is an LG IPS they come with LED array supplied by LG. In the case of the W950B it uses an edge array and reports claim that is along the bottom edge of the display. I had an LA7400 for a minute and it was a bottom edge dimmer,so anytime it was activated you saw dancing columns of light. A few reviews I have found for the UK W955b have used "advance contrast enhancer" and "black corrector" to alleviate these issues.

I can confirm its a bottom lit panel. With dimming turned on you will occasionally see the columns of light. I have found it most evident on the intro to "Hell on Wheels" TV show. when the fire starts in the middle you see columns of light spreading to the edges as the fire spreads. Advance contrast enhancer and black correcter help the issue slightly but dont remove it. I leave it off and lower the backlight to fix the problem. I will say that the dimming on the Sony is far more bearable than a lot of others I have seen. The Vizio TVs that have the side lit LEDs show horizontal banding when local dimming is enabled and it looks so terrible it is not bearable to me.

I can confirm its a bottom lit panel. With dimming turned on you will occasionally see the columns of light. I have found it most evident on the intro to "Hell on Wheels" TV show. when the fire starts in the middle you see columns of light spreading to the edges as the fire spreads. Advance contrast enhancer and black correcter help the issue slightly but dont remove it. I leave it off and lower the backlight to fix the problem. I will say that the dimming on the Sony is far more bearable than a lot of others I have seen. The Vizio TVs that have the side lit LEDs show horizontal banding when local dimming is enabled and it looks so terrible it is not bearable to me.

I owned the 2013 M-series and posted videos on the owners thread showing the slow response of the dimming scheme and banding. I then tried the W802a and prefered the frame dimming (global) dimming to the banding,but couldn't handle the milky black levels.

Hey guys, I understand that the w950b uses an LG IPS panel but it seems to me that it produces really good levels of blacks..

I was at Best Buy and came across this. The top right tv is the 65w950b and the bottom left tv is an LG 70" in the magnolia (I'm assuming it's a high end model with an IPS panel as well)

I know that there are a lot of criticism on the w950b's black levels because it's an LG IPS panel. Do you think that it's what Sony puts inside the TV that makes it stand out more than an LG IPS panel? I think that Sony did a pretty good job IMO backing up the IPS panel.

Hey guys, I understand that the w950b uses an LG IPS panel but it seems to me that it produces really good levels of blacks..

I was at Best Buy and came across this. The top right tv is the 65w950b and the bottom left tv is an LG 70" in the magnolia (I'm assuming it's a high end model with an IPS panel as well)

I know that there are a lot of criticism on the w950b's black levels because it's an LG IPS panel. Do you think that it's what Sony puts inside the TV that makes it stand out more than an LG IPS panel? I think that Sony did a pretty good job IMO backing up the IPS panel.

The area was a pretty dark room too.

What do you guys think?? I'm thinking of getting a w950b myself.

Were you able to get them to turn the lights off in the showroom on our 2?
I have seen them in person as well and was able to set it to the cinema mode and thought it held up well against the LG LB7100 IPS and the Samsung 60H7150 as well.
The issue with IPS is when you get it home in a HT environment with no ambient light. Most IPS panels struggle under these conditions (some cases not all).

Were you able to get them to turn the lights off in the showroom on our 2?
I have seen them in person as well and was able to set it to the cinema mode and thought it held up well against the LG LB7100 IPS and the Samsung 60H7150 as well.
The issue with IPS is when you get it home in a HT environment with no ambient light. Most IPS panels struggle under these conditions (some cases not all).

They couldn't turn those lights off

It looks good to me. I'll go ahead and order it. Best Buy has 15 day return policy anyways. If it doesn't look good in a really dark condition, I'll look into something else.

I owned the 2013 M-series and posted videos on the owners thread showing the slow response of the dimming scheme and banding. I then tried the W802a and prefered the frame dimming (global) dimming to the banding,but couldn't handle the milky black levels.

I own a m501d-a2r and I agree the local dimming is terrible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by balancedphoto

They couldn't turn those lights off

It looks good to me. I'll go ahead and order it. Best Buy has 15 day return policy anyways. If it doesn't look good in a really dark condition, I'll look into something else.

I'll keep everyone posted!

I posted photos of mine with all lights off in a prior reply, check those images, I can also post my settings if anyone is interested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by balancedphoto

Hey guys, I understand that the w950b uses an LG IPS panel but it seems to me that it produces really good levels of blacks..

I was at Best Buy and came across this. The top right tv is the 65w950b and the bottom left tv is an LG 70" in the magnolia (I'm assuming it's a high end model with an IPS panel as well)

I know that there are a lot of criticism on the w950b's black levels because it's an LG IPS panel. Do you think that it's what Sony puts inside the TV that makes it stand out more than an LG IPS panel? I think that Sony did a pretty good job IMO backing up the IPS panel.

The area was a pretty dark room too.

What do you guys think?? I'm thinking of getting a w950b myself.

Its the black corrector and advanced contrast that the sony has that help it look better than the LG. I can attest that the black levels on this TV are superb, despite what some people in this thread are saying.

Hey guys, so i just bought my 55w950b from Best Buy. So far I'm liking the TV a lot. Colors are really nice too.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this is normal but when I'm watching something like with a dark scene and a small bright part in the picture there is a small light up area around the subject in the dark scene. I think this is because the TV uses X-tended dynamic range (which improves the brightness by 2x) and local dimming? Like a small flash around the screen where there's light in a dark scene, to be specific.

But when i turn the LED dynamic control to "off" it doesn't happen anymore. Do you guys use LED dynamic control on with your TV?

Hey guys, so i just bought my 55w950b from Best Buy. So far I'm liking the TV a lot. Colors are really nice too.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this is normal but when I'm watching something like with a dark scene and a small bright part in the picture there is a small light up area around the subject in the dark scene. I think this is because the TV uses X-tended dynamic range (which improves the brightness by 2x) and local dimming? Like a small flash around the screen where there's light in a dark scene, to be specific.

But when i turn the LED dynamic control to "off" it doesn't happen anymore. Do you guys use LED dynamic control on with your TV?

You are probably seeing "blooming" from the dimming scheme,while in edge lit displays it can appear as an entire column of light Sony's tech usually handles it pretty well.
What exactly are watching content wise that this appears?

Hey guys, so i just bought my 55w950b from Best Buy. So far I'm liking the TV a lot. Colors are really nice too.

Anyways, I'm not sure if this is normal but when I'm watching something like with a dark scene and a small bright part in the picture there is a small light up area around the subject in the dark scene. I think this is because the TV uses X-tended dynamic range (which improves the brightness by 2x) and local dimming? Like a small flash around the screen where there's light in a dark scene, to be specific.

But when i turn the LED dynamic control to "off" it doesn't happen anymore. Do you guys use LED dynamic control on with your TV?

I keep LED dynamic control off, the TV looks far better that way. Lower your backlight to compensate.

Im glad you like your tv. I was looking at one in the magnolia room,in best buy. It looked awful compared to all the top end ones. No kidding, i know.however, then the best buy dude tells me its hooked thru coaxel! So i asked him to use a dvd with hdmi and it looked great.